In light of Ken Holland's comments to the Edmonton Journal'sJim Matheson and MLive's Ansar Khan regarding the futures of the Wings and Griffins' head coaches, the respective situations of the Wings' assistant coaches are particularly intriguing.

Last week, the Florida Sun-Sentinel's Harvey Filakov reported that the Panthers are interested in Tom Renney and then Bill Peters, coaches who've been made available to other teams to talk contract turkey.

The Walleye are excited to welcome Derek Lalonde as the team’s new head coach. Lalonde was introduced during a press conference on Monday morning at the Huntington Center in downtown Toledo.

“We want to build great things here in Toledo, build a culture of success.” Lalonde has been head coach and general manager of the Green Bay Gamblers of the United States Hockey League since 2011, compiling a record of 111-54-14, guiding the team to both regular season and playoff championships in 2011-12, and was USHL Coach of the Year in 2012. He was also Head Coach of Team USA’s U19 National Team which captured gold at the World Junior A Challenge in November of 2013.

Joe Napoli, Toledo Walleye president and general manager, says Lalonde was the one who stood out during a very rigorous interviewing process. “We were thrilled with the quality of candidates we interviewed, both nationally and internationally.”

Lalonde’s coaching experience includes being assistant coach at the University of Denver (2006-2011), Ferris State University (2002-2006), Hamilton College (2000-2002), Lebanon Valley College (1998-2000), and Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts (1995-1998). He played collegiate hockey at Cortland State University in Cortland, New York from 1991-1995 as a goaltender. He’s married to his wife Melissa, and has two sons, Alex (8), Luke (5) and a daughter Abby (3).

The Edmonton Journal's Jim Matheson had a conversation with Red Wings GM Ken Holland on Sunday evening, and it produced a little clarification on Mike Babcock's status (see: Holland plans on signing Babcock, who has a year left on his contract, to an extension), including a near-perfect repetition of the "grass isn't greener" metaphor, as well as the following (after Matheson confirms that Grand Rapids Griffins coach Jeff Blashill is off-limits, should other teams inquire about his availability for contract talks):

“In this day and age, everything is a story … after our team picture, some media guy asked about Mike’s contract. I wasn’t going to talk to Mike about it during the playoffs or on the plane home (after losing to the Boston Bruins),” said Holland. “We just haven’t got together. He went to Montreal. I went to Grand Rapids to watch our farm team (in the playoffs). He’s out west. We haven’t been in the same city, but we’ll sit down in June. I’d like to talk to him about an extension.

“We work well together,” Holland continued. “I challenge Mike, he challenges me. We’ll argue, but we’ll come back the next day and start over. He pushes our players. Sometimes they don’t like it, but the players respond. I believe there’s respect between the coach and the players.”

Updated 4x at 5:27 AM: For many Red Wings fans, May involved taking a break from hockey, occasionally reading about the exploits of the Grand Rapids Griffins, and then Anthony Mantha's Val-d'Or Foreurs and Tyler Bertuzzi's Guelph Storm, and going back to watching the NHL playoffs.

Over the next 35 days, the Red Wings' management will get down to the business of shaping the face of the 2014-2015 Wings roster, and the roster for years to come.

Between tomorrow and the draft in Philadelphia, which takes place on the 27th and 28th, the Wings' amateur scouts, pro scouts, coaches and management will hold several organizational meetings to outline the team's plans regarding its restricted and unrestricted free agents-to-be, its draft strategy and its free agency outlook.

As well as a pleasant set of Tweets from Warrior Sports, which is attending Warrior endorsee Adam Henrique's ball hockey tournament in Tecumseh, ON (who knew that the left-handed Jimmy Howard played goalie "regularly" but shot right-handed as a "skater?")...

This story qualifies as quasi-Red Wings-related, because it certainly sounds like the Florida Panthers' coaching search will ensure that Mike Babcock's going to have another coach flanking one of his shoulders this fall.

According to the Sun-Sentinel's Harvey Filkaov, the Panthers, who've already targeted Wings associate coach Tom Renney, are also interested in the Wings' other assistant coach, as well as someone with Red Wings ties:

Just because Panthers General Manager Dale Tallon spent the last few days in Toronto at the NHL Scouting Combine where he has been checking out potential draft picks, doesn't mean he's not continuing his search for a head coach.

A few new names have been added to the Panthers' candidate list, including Detroit Red Wings assistant Bill Peters and Canadiens assistant Gerard Gallant, according to a source close to the team.

They've either been interviewed or are scheduled to be, with Peters having ties to Tallon from their years together in the Blackhawks' organization.

...

The Panthers have also shown interest in former Avalance/Canucks/Kings coach Marc Crawford and former Rangers/Oilers coach Tom Renney, who's currently an associate coach of the Red Wings.

“I wouldn’t categorize our talks as formal negotiations, just because how our relationship is,” Holland said during a phone interview Friday. “I’d like to get him signed to an extension. It might take 10 minutes, it might take two months.”

The two will be in contact beginning next week during their pro scouting meetings and then see each other again at the NHL Entry Draft, which takes place June 27-28 at Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia. Holland said the two have spoken briefly since the season ended, but have not met or talked for an extended period of time.

Babcock just wrapped up his ninth season with the Wings and has compiled a regular season record of 415-198-91. He’s in the final year of a contract that pays him roughly $2 million a season.

“If he wants to go into the last year of his contract and play out his option that’s his prerogative,” Holland said. “I don’t know if he wants to stay or doesn’t want to stay, but I think he’s happy here.”

Pleiness continues with the aforementioned context-adding, and We All Bleed Redd on YouTube happened to post a pertinent clip (a short one, no less) from the Memorial Cup, when Holland addressed Anthony Mantha's chances of making the team out of training camp:

"Our scouts identified good players and Jeff Blashill has done a fabulous job in the development of those players," Holland said. "We're trying to develop another group of players who'll be key contributors to us having playoff success. It's important that they learn to win at the American Hockey League level. This season and next summer is a critical time in Detroit as we transition young players into being Red Wings. Jeff Blashill is an important guy as we go through that transition. He's excited to continue to have an impact on the Red Wings."

The Red Wings ideally would like to sign Babcock to an extension before the season.

This article from "The Daily Beast" (please note: George does not endorse "The Daily Beast" any more or less than he does "The Blaze," which is to say not at all) pretty much speaks for itself, and it's a gread read:

In 1959, the peerless sportswriter W.C. Heinz caught up with professional hockey legend Gordie Howe at the height of his considerable powers.

The Stanley Cup Finals are upon us. What better time to revisit this day-in-the-life profile of one master, Gordie Howe, by another master, W.C. Heinz. Originally published in The Saturday Evening Post in 1959, roughly halfway through Howe's incredible career, the story is reprinted here with permission from Heinz's daughter, Gayl. Please enjoy “Work Horse on Ice.” -Alex Belth

In five hours Gordie Howe would play hockey with the Detroit Red Wings against the New York Rangers. Now it was 3:30 in the afternoon, and he was sitting at the kitchen table in his new home in a residential suburb fourteen miles northwest of downtown Detroit. He was eating the meal on which he would play—steak, peas, lettuce, fruit jello, and tea.

“When we play those Saturday afternoon TV games,” he was saying, “I just play on my breakfast eggs. Once, when I was with Omaha, I played on a milk shake.”

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